The First Male (42 page)

She felt strong; stronger than she had in years. This cabin, these grounds, this swamp, was hallowed by the bloodmagic of her ancestors and it was here that she would be the strongest. It was here that she'd make her final stand. She prayed, chanted and called upon the ancient powers with a fervor she had never known. She hoped their spirit would strengthen her spell and protect the world, although she wasn't quite sure how.

In the morning light she felt calm, almost serene; this just might be her last morning and her last sunrise.

She stepped out onto the porch and inhaled the fresh scent of morning. The snow had finally stopped falling and the sun shone bright in the sky. Even at this early morning hour the temperature was far above the freezing point and the snow that covered the land began to melt. She listened as droplets of water slid from the roof of the house and splattered against the fractured wood of the porch. If this was to be her last morning on earth, she wanted to enjoy the simply beauty of nature.

She didn't fear death, at least not hers. She feared the death of the world. She feared that this day might end with the swamp water that surrounded her shack turned to blood, with hundreds of discarded corpses floating in the muck; she feared the day when the stench of death choked out any hope of life. She would willingly die if she could be certain that the world would be spared the brutality of the shadows.

But for now, she wanted to enjoy the view and remember things the way they were; the tranquility of the bright morning didn't last long.

Her serenity was splintered by the foul scent of burning sulfur. Instantly, her body tensed and she took an offensive position as she looked around quickly, hoping to find the source of the odor. Shadows. It could only be the shadows. They were here.

She heard a low rumble from the sky and watched as flakes fell from the heavens.
Was it snowing again?
she asked herself but it was far too hot for snow. One of the flakes drifted down and landed in the palm of her hand. It didn't melt. She raised it to her nose and took a whiff. It wasn't snow. It was ash. Gray ash was falling from the sky as if heaven itself were burning. The ash rained down in heavier, thicker flakes.

Addie wiggled her fingers to activate her protection spell that she had placed around the house. She heard a low rumble in the
sky and rushed inside the house, closing the door behind her.

“Hello, Grandmother.” Addie froze. They were already inside. She spun around and saw Eli standing in center of the room, his head cocked to the side and his mouth curled into a devious grin. He was dressed in tight, white slacks and a white vest, with his hands in the pockets of his pants. “I must say that I didn't expect to see you here, of all places,” he said as he looked around the room. “I expected you to be hiding, cowering under some rock far from here. But here you are, in this place—the last bastion of your power. I will burn it to the ground myself with you in it and take its power,” he said boastfully, “but, first, have you noticed the beautiful
snow
falling? It's marvelous, isn't it?” He strolled around the room speaking casually. “I've missed you, Grandmother. Have you missed me?” Addie knew that he couldn't be alone; her eyes scanned the room. “Do you like my outfit? I thought I'd dress for my big moment.” Eli did a quick three hundred and sixty degree spin on his toes. “You didn't know that I'm a dancer, did you?”

Addie didn't have patience for his little games. “Where's Simon?”

“Oh, don't worry about my brother. He may not come when you call, but he's always on time,” Eli said with a deep laugh. “Oh, I'm sorry—that was funny. That's what you people used to say about you know who,” he said as he looked up. “I wonder what
he's
doing now as ash falls from heaven?”

“Eli, it isn't too late. You can still change—come to the light. Stop all this before it starts.”

Eli paused as if he were seriously contemplating her offer. Then, his expression changed. “Why would I ever want to do that, old lady? You don't get it, do you? It's so much better in the dark. And soon the dark will lay waste to this land. Your time is up. Finally,
my
time has arrived!” He extended his arms to what
seemed like the length of the room. Quickly, he put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a closed fist and extended his arm toward Addie. “You wanna see a trick?” Before she could respond, he opened the palm of his hand to reveal a fistful of dull, gray ash and then blew hard on the substance. The ash flew from his hand, but remained suspended in air inches from where he stood. Then, he smiled and blew again and the ash sprayed across the room like machine gun fire, stinging Addie's flesh so hard that it brought her to her knees.

“Eli,” she said as she tried to cover her body with her hands. “Stop it! You can stop all of this!”

“Oh, Grannie. You're so funny.”

“If you wanna laugh, my dear grandson, how about this?” Addie clenched her fist hard, and Eli let out a scream that bounced around the room. He fell to the floor, holding his stomach, writhing in agonizing pain. Addie stood up slowly. “I'm better at this than you are, little boy—never forget that.”

“I'll fuckin' kill you!” he screamed as he curled up in the fetal position. Addie clenched her fist tighter, intensifying the sensation that his insides were about to explode. He spat up a wad of blood.

“Not if you're already dead.”

Addie pointed her finger at him and made his body rise from the floor. He hung in the air, suspended by her power. She looked him in the eyes—eyes that were like hers—and then flung him hard against the wall. He screamed out again.

“You—you—can't kill me. I can't die,” he stammered out, un-convincingly.

“Are you sure about that?” Addie raised an eyebrow. “You're weak. You haven't ascended,” she stated. When Eli's eyes widened, Addie knew that she had gotten into his head. He was genuinely afraid that she would kill him. She could see his fear. “Surely, you
weren't foolish enough to come here, to face me, without your full power. Your arrogance is your undoing.”

“Please, Grandmother. Please. I'm so sorry for what I did to you when you were in the hospital. Please, don't kill me.”

“My dear Eli,” she began, “such a beautiful child; so full of evil. It's hard to believe that you are of my blood. This world has been protected by the blood of my sisters—your family—for eons; it is that same blood that pulses in your veins. We have nurtured every thing of beauty for so long that we are inextricably bound to the fate of this world. I love this world and will not let you destroy it. You crave nothing but blood and death. You are lost.” She tightened both fists and doubled his pain. His cries amplified across the room.

Then, Addie flew across the room and crashed into the wall.

From a room in the back of the shack, Rebecca emerged. She was dressed splendidly, as if she was ready for a runway show. Her short black gown showed her long, smooth legs; her makeup was perfect, except it couldn't completely cover the deep scar on her neck where Addie had slit her throat. The sound of her heels clanked across the wooden floor.

“Adelaide, what have you done to my son?” she asked with little emotion. She extended her hand to Eli and pulled him up. “Mommy will always take care of you, darling.”

Eli stumbled to his feet and straightened his vest. “Do you see what that bitch did to me? She got blood on my outfit. She tried to kill me!” Eli's fury filled the room in the form of flames that raced across the space, igniting loose pieces of wood and furniture. The fire formed a circle around Addie, pinning her in the corner, but she twisted her fingers in a circle and all the fire that raged around her coalesced in the palm of her hand; she snapped it out when she closed her fist.

“So, here we are,” Rebecca said with joy, “at the final battle. This is the moment when dark overtakes light, permanently.” Rebecca and Eli stood in line, almost shoulder to shoulder, and faced Addie, who stood on the other side of the room, her hands balled into tight fists, ready for battle. “Do you really think you can take us both, even in this place?” The smile vanished from Rebecca's face.

“I have no doubt about that, Dark Mother. Your power is a shadow against the sun—a mere fragment of my true power. Do you really want to do battle with a Priestess Supreme? Do you really believe your artificial power can withstand an assault by me? Gone is the feeble woman you helped keep locked in a shell for years. She's gone,” Addie said with emphasis on her last two words. “I am a warrior witch; born and bred to beat back the shadows. I am not afraid of either of you.” Tension, thick as fog, gathered in the room and separated the enemies; one wrong move would set off a powder keg, but neither side budged. They stood eyeball to eyeball, deciding whether to engage or whether to retreat.

“Adelaide, why do you still resist, even in this final hour? You can still join us and be spared from the death that most assuredly awaits you. Why not join us and live?”

“I will not live on my knees, worshipping false gods,” she said as she motioned toward Eli.

“Fuck you!” Eli lashed out. “You will bow down to me!” He sent a blast of shadowmagic toward Addie that she deflected and sent back to him. When his own power hit him, he screamed and shook violently, as if overcome by a seizure.

Rebecca clawed the air and instantly Addie felt the flesh on her arm rip. She screamed out in pain and blood poured from her forearm. Addie blasted Rebecca so hard with her power that she
flew across the room and Addie kept her pinned to the wall, as if she had been nailed there. Addie then looked down at her arm, waved her hand across it and sealed the wound.

“Release her!” Eli screamed and he flicked his wrist as if he were backhanding someone across the face. Addie felt his blow from across the room but absorbed it, painfully.

In retribution, she clenched her fists and he collapsed to the floor and screamed.

Then, the room started to vibrate, shift out of phase. The feeling sent a wave of nausea to Addie's stomach and she lost focus, momentarily. Her hold on Rebecca broke and she slid down the wall to the floor.

Everything in the room continued to vibrate, only much faster. The smell of sulfur filled the room and the ground beneath their feet rocked back and forth violently. The furniture, spaced sparsely throughout the room, slid from side to side as if tossed by an earthquake.

Rebecca stood up and ran her fingers through her red hair. “Yes, come to us. The time is now!” she screamed. “Give me your hand, Eli—quickly.” Eli paused, but Rebecca took her hand into his. “We must help Eetwidomayloh.”

“How? We can't open the gate.”

“We can on this day and with his power, we can rid ourselves of that bitch once and for all,” she said, a snarl curing her lips at the corner.

They joined hands and foul sounds escaped from Rebecca's mouth; her head snapped back as if she were possessed. The sky suddenly darkened as day instantly turned to night, and the dizzying smell of sulfur intensified in the room; the wounded sky bled thick, gray ash, which fell like snowflakes in a heavy blizzard. Tremendous claps of thunder, exploding in rapid succession,
shook the antiquated walls of the cabin, causing pieces of rotting wood to fall from the ceiling onto the floor and crash with a thud. In the middle of the room a black, oval-shaped vortex appeared—a rip in the veil that separated the Shadowland from this world. From the black space of the vortex, shadows emerged, slithering out quickly and coiling around each other. The shadowserpents coiled around each other and soon began to give shape to a man. The shadow grew until finally the outline of a giant man, at least eight feet tall, stood in the center of the room. The vortex closed.

“No!” Addie screamed, but her protest was met with a severe blast of shadowmagic. The blow hit her so hard that the room spun and she felt as if she would lose consciousness.

The shadows continued to circle and coil around the man and flesh appeared on thick bones. Rebecca clapped wildly.

Addie gasped.

“Eetwidomayloh,” Eli whispered.

Soon, the Shadowman stood in the center of the room, only now more flesh than shadow. His tremendous legs were as thick as tree trunks and his forearms looked as powerful as jackhammers. He stretched his body, as if to adjust to this world and to acquaint himself to his newly formed flesh.

He slowly removed the black hood that covered his face and revealed his enormous head, the size of a lumpy, overgrown pumpkin. His head was completely hairless, as was the rest of the pale skin on his body. His enormous body was void of even a single strand of hair. The angry orbs that were his eyes were the size of fists and took up half his face. His piercing gaze ripped through the silence of the room. He looked around the room as if to orientate himself to the space. His thin lips were tightly drawn, but then he opened his mouth widely and a hideous stench poured out, drowning the room in a nauseous gas.

“Where is Simon?” Eetwidomayloh bellowed. “Where is he?”

“Do not worry. He will be here soon,” Rebecca offered quickly. “Very soon.”

Eetwidomayloh growled with displeasure and then released a scream that sounded as if it originated from a deep, cavernous space. “He should be here now!” He took two giant steps toward Eli that shook the cabin. “Where is your brother, Eli?”

“As Mother said, he'll be here shortly. Don't worry.”

“I have waited a millennium for this moment. All that we desire is at hand. I ask you again, where is Simon?”

“He won't come,” Addie said, projecting confidence. “He will not serve you. You will fail as you have always failed.”

Quickly, Eetwidomayloh turned and faced Addie. “Even now, you continue to resist?” he asked incredulously.

“I will always resist.” Addie's fists glowed yellow; she blasted the giant with her magic and made him stumble. “Until they ascend and tear down the veil, your tether on this world is tenuous.” She hit him again. Again, he stumbled. “Your new flesh is weak, Eetwidomayloh,” she said as she sliced her fingers through the air, tearing his flesh. Eetwidomayloh screamed and fell to one knee, his head dangling on his unsteady neck.